An online ‘battle’ has broken out after a popular TV host made racially insensitive comments and gestures while on air.
It all began when South Korean K-pop group KARD made an appearance on a TV show presented by popular Brazilian personality, Raul Gil.
According to the BBC, Raul began asking KARD if they were single, but when the crowd started cheering, he asked why they were reacting in such a way and made a ‘slant-eye’ gesture. NOT COOL.
It gets worse – later in the programme Raul Gil made a jibe about a Japanese youngster who appeared on his show, telling him that he ‘had better open his eyes’.
The broadcast understandably caused a huge backlash in South Korea, where people not only directed their anger at Gil but also Brazil in general.
Hashtags #doyouwantkorea and #doyouwantbrazil started appearing an and online spat ensued.
One person said Brazil had ‘xenophobic’ and ‘racist’ attitudes, while others attacked the appearance of the TV host, some compared Brazil’s economic situation to that of Korea.
Tweets compared Korea to Brazil, and pointing out alleged Korean racism, with one user saying Koreans prefer lighter skin tones, while others made references to the use of black face on Korean TV.
None of this is acceptable.
